New No. 1 in latest BCS rankings

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Oregon and Auburn flopped positions in the BCS standings this week, with the Ducks ascending to the No. 1 spot for the first time in school history.

A road win over USC enabled the Ducks to squeeze past Auburn, which dropped to No. 2 after its road victory at Ole Miss.

TCU and Boise State also swapped places, with the Horned Frogs moving into third and Boise dropping to fourth.
Oregon’s lead over Auburn is .0178 points; last week, the Tigers led by .0302 over the Ducks.

The Ducks remained No. 1 in both polls used by the BCS but made a big jump in the six computers, moving from an average computer ranking of eighth to an average ranking of second. Auburn remained second in the polls and was No. 1 in all six computers, but it wasn’t enough to stay ahead of the Ducks.

The top four teams are unbeaten; the other undefeated team is Utah, which jumped from eighth to fifth in the BCS this week. The Utes benefited from losses by Michigan State and Missouri, which were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the BCS last week but suffered their first losses on Saturday. Missouri dropped to 12th, Michigan State 14th.

TCU plays at Utah on Saturday night.

Alabama moved up one spot, to sixth, while Nebraska zoomed up seven spots, to No. 7, after beating Mizzou. Oklahoma, Wisconsin and LSU round out the top 10. LSU plays host to Alabama on Saturday.

Alabama remains the highest-placed one-loss team.

While TCU is behind Boise State in both polls, the Horned Frogs’ average computer ranking is third, two spots ahead of Boise’s. Missouri’s average computer ranking is fourth.

The three components of the BCS standings are the coaches’ poll; the Harris poll, voted on by media members and by former players, coaches and administrators; and six computers. Each of the components counts one-third. The best and worst computer rankings are thrown out, and the sum total of the remaining four is divided by 100 (the maximum possible points) to come up with the BCS’ computer rankings percentage.

While strength of schedule isn’t a separate BCS component, all six computers have a strength-of-schedule factor in their rankings.

TCU is the highest-ranked non-Big Six conference team this week. A non-Big Six team is guaranteed a BCS spot in two ways. One is if it finishes in the top 12; the other is if it is ranked in the top 16 and its ranking is higher than that of a conference champion with an automatic berth. This week, the Horned Frogs are higher than any team from the ACC, Big Ten, Big East and Big 12.

Under BCS rules, only one non-Big Six team is guaranteed a spot if it meets the criteria. Any others would be at-large candidates. At-large candidates must have at least nine victories and finish in the top 14 in the final BCS standings.

Nevada, at No. 23, is the other non-Big Six team in the standings this week.

The final BCS standings will be released Dec. 5. Teams first and second in the final standings meet in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz.

Some other items of interest from the third set of standings:

Auburn is No. 1 in all six computers. Oregon’s rankings range from second to seventh. The Colley Matrix has the Ducks seventh, behind three one-loss teams (Missouri is third, Oklahoma fourth and Nebraska sixth).

The pollsters like Alabama, which is fifth in both polls. But the Tide isn’t well-liked by the computers. Their average computer ranking is 15th. They are as high as fourth in one of the computers, but one has them 15th, one 16th and one 17th. Alabama is six spots behind Utah in the computer rankings.

Ohio State is another team that does well by the pollsters (eighth in both) but not so well by the computers. The Buckeyes’ average computer ranking is 16th; their rankings range from 14th to 18th.

The highest-ranked Big Ten team by the computers is Michigan State, whose average computer ranking is 10th; that’s one spot ahead of Wisconsin.

TCU’s computer rankings range from second to sixth; Boise State’s range from fourth to 13th.

LSU is another team getting a boost from the computers. The Tigers are 11th and 12th in the polls, but their average computer ranking is sixth.

There are eight two-loss teams in the standings: Iowa, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Baylor, Virginia Tech, Florida State and N.C. State.

For the second week in a row, there are no Big East teams in the standings, and Virginia Tech, at 22nd, is the highest-placed team from the ACC.

Miami, which had been 22nd, fell out of the standings, while N.C. State (25th) moved in.

The SEC leads the way with six teams in the top 25, followed by the Big 12 with five, the Big Ten with four, the ACC and Pac-10 with three and the Mountain West and WAC with two each.